All Alone...

Today was my first day completely alone in this house. It was all good (no worrying about strangers hiding in corners), but it was lonely. I wanted to go for a walk, but it was raining all afternoon, and then it was dark :( Hopefully I'll have the opportunity tomorrow. I've been positively bored all day, regardless of whether I was doing work or avoiding it. I might watch a movie. But to occupy more time, QOTDs.

361. Give me the first thing that comes to mind when you hear "heart".
Body organ.

362. What's your favourite colour?
Green, but verging into teal.

363. What is your current desktop picture?

364. If you could press a button and make anyone in the world instantaneously explode, who would it be?
Although some people are tempting, I wouldn't wish that upon anyone.

365. What would be a question you'd be afraid to tell the truth on?
What's your dirty little secret?

Let's Do The Time Warp Again

Last year, my New Year's Resolution was to floss my teeth each and every day. That didn't happen every day (but it definitely happened more often than it did previously). Luckily, I had a second resolution: take a picture myself every day. Unfortunately, that also didn't happen every day, but had a much higher success rate than the flossing did. I think I only missed a handful of days all year. And after taking a picture of yourself every day for a year it becomes a bit of a habit, so I continued into this year. I only stopped during the summer when my ipod broke and my phone at the time didn't have a front facing camera. My goal when making this resolution was always to put the pictures together in a slideshow to see them altogether in quick succession. And I've finally gotten around to making that video. So here is 457 pictures of me, taken between Jan 1st, 2014 and June 18th, 2015, in 40 seconds.

My New Year's Resolution this year is to write a letter every week, and it must be delivered through snail mail. So far I'm on track, although sometimes I have difficulty thinking of who to write a letter to. Hopefully I can make it all the way to the end, and I will have finally (100% successfully) completed a New Year's Resolution.

'I Want To Walk'

Today I ended up walking to and from campus four times. Which is ironic because the first time I was walking there I told my friends that I wanted to go for a walk. After my first class, I had forgotten that I have a team meeting, so I had to go back to campus. Later I was out in the backyard sitting and doing some of my reading in the sun, and my other roommates left for class and they locked the doors. So then I had to walk to campus to get the keys so that I could get back into the house. And finally I had to go back to campus a fourth time for class. And while not the most interesting route to walk, I'm glad I was able to spend time outside. I'm really excited to be going back up to camp this weekend to help out with the retreat. It will be nice to see Nola again.

Long Time No See

If I tried to tell you all about my summer, I could go on for pages and pages until my hands went numb from typing, and still have more stories to tell. So I'm not going to say much. I loved this summer. It was easily the most exhausting and demanding summer I've had at camp, but I loved every minute of it. And I'm so proud of everything I accomplished. From being nervous about how to do my job, to getting into a routine, to becoming comfortable enough to change the routine just for the sake of changing it. Not many 19 year olds can say they ran the entire kitchen operation of a summer camp for 400 people. I loved all of the people I worked with in the kitchen, and all of the people I got to hang out with in my brief times off. I'm going to miss them, and I'm going to miss camp. As much as we get sick of it, I know I would go back to camp in a heartbeat.

Now I'm in Stratford at UWaterloo's satellite campus. I'm not really looking forward to classes (who is?) but I'm really excited about living in Stratford. It's a really nice town. And I'm a small town kind of person. Some (a lot) have decided to commute between Waterloo and Stratford. It will be interesting to see how that works out and how often they miss class because of the commute.

357. How can I win your heart?
I'm not sure, but you can get close to it with food ;)

358. Can insanity bring on more creativity?
Definitely.

359. What is the single best decision you have made in your life so far?
To follow Jesus.

360. What would you want to be written on your tombstone?
Kind of a strange thing to think about. My name, b. date and d. date. A quote, maybe? The reference to my favourite bible verse, whatever it happens to be at the time. 

Wait, Camp?!

Spring is officially done! Our last retreat group left on Wednesday (safe and sound, after surviving a wild thunder storm and a tornado warning). A bunch of us stayed up late on Monday to watch the lightening storm. It wasn't raining and there was hardly any thunder, but there was lightening almost every 30 seconds. It was so cool to sit in the field and watch it flash across the sky. There were some streaks that would go horizontal, which was pretty neat. 
Right now I have two days off, whereas most other people have one day off.  I realized a while ago that there wouldn't need to be any meals served today (Thursday), so Nola (my partner in nutritional provision) and I had no reason to be there. One day off! But then I got thinking and the only person it would affect if either Nola or I were missing would be the other. So if we were both down to do a day on our own, then we could have more days off. So Nola got Wednesday and Thursday, and I get Thursday and Friday. A pretty sweet deal, if I do say so myself. I'm glad I'll have extra time to rest before camp starts. I realized belatedly that I wouldn't be there when all the staff arrive tonight and would miss all the introductions, but I've come to be okay with it. Most people already know who I am anyways ;) 
It's really hard to believe that in 3 days camp starts! We're going to need to make 93 pizzas to feed everyone Sunday dinner. Luckily, I have another oven now! This extra oven is a life saver; we now have double the oven space that we did before. (Where the two ovens are stacked on top of each other we used to only have one). What used to take 3hrs to bake can now be done in 1.5hrs. It is going to make my life to much easier and less stressful. 

I also just found out that the girl who did my position last year is going to come up for part of this week to help out, which I'm really grateful for. I'm not as stressed as I thought I would be. I thought I would be worried about how many people I have to feed (this week it's 312). It will be a bigger number than I've ever done before, but we've had meals during the spring with over 250 people, so it's not a huge jump. And I've become more confident in myself in this position, as well as gained a lot more knowledge about prep time and quantities. 

It's going to be a wild summer, but I couldn't be more excited for everything that's going to happen :)


354. You are at the doctor's office and she informs you that you have one month to live.
a) Do you tell anyone/everyone you are going to die?
I would tell my family and close friends. And probably the people at camp as well since that's where I am right now.
b) What do you do with your remaining days?
I would probably want to spend some of it at camp. I wouldn't do FSD, I'd probably wander and do whatever I wanted to do (climb high ropes) and just hang out with people. 
c) Would you be afraid?
Yes, but I think that within the month given I would come to terms with it.

355. What's a song that always makes you happy when you hear it?
Blame It On The Boogie by The Jacksons

356. In your opinion, what makes a great relationship?
Love, honesty, trustworthiness, humour, dependability, basically everything lined out in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8: 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.

350. Where is your best friend?
Toronto.

351. What were you doing last night at 12am?
Trying to fall asleep.

352. Are you the kind of friend you would want to have as a friend?
If this is to mean would I want a friend with the same personality as myself, I would say no because as a quiet person, us hanging out would just be a lot of awkward silence, I think. But in terms of what I do for my friends and the effort I put into my friendships, yeah I would have myself as a friend. I am not the one to suggest hanging out often, being an introvert, so I would be okay with that. I don't know. This is too much thinking for my tired brain.

353. You are walking down the street on your way to work. There is a dog drowning in the canal on the side of the street. Your boss has told you that if you are late one more time you're fired. What do you do?
For the record, I think punctuality is key so would never be in the situation of late-one-more-time-and-you're-fired. That aside, I would keep walking and not save the dog.

X

Yesterday I went to the Ed Sheeran concert in London with Em and I had a blast. He is so good live. He uses a loop machine, where he will play, hum, or make a beat for a bar, and then it will repeat, so he can make all of the sounds himself. It was so cool to watch him make all the sounds himself. And it causes for more anticipation because when he starts off, you can't tell what song it is until he actually starts playing the guitar, or adds a more recognizable beat. He was the only one on the stage for the entire performance. The opening act was Foy Vance. I have one song by them, but don't know them super well. I enjoyed their music though. It was just a really fun time; it's been so long since I've gone out to an event like that with friends.
Before the concert, I was at my sisters graduation. Congratulations Alison! I'm so proud of everything you've accomplished so far and can't wait to see what you'll do in the future.